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Ryan’s Regards: Clearing the clutter

Most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by this point in the year
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Table for sale took a bit more work than first thought. (Mariana Aramburu/Special to The Star)

Have you stuck to your New Years resolutions? We’re not even one month into 2021, and as studies and polls have annually shown us, this is the point where most abandon their goals.

But it was a very different kind of New Year, wasn’t it? With COVID cancelling get-togethers and no end of the pandemic in sight, it felt more or less to be a continuation of the previous twelve-months… although, I mean technically, that’s what New Years always is…

While some people seemed to be under the impression 2020 was all a horrible, no good dream that would disappear from memory at the stroke of midnight, others seemed to forgo resolutions all together… to be fair it is kind of difficult to make any sort of concrete plan.

Rainy weather and closed gyms make it difficult to vow shedding pounds. Stressful situations only amplify people’s smoking and drinking habits. We’re already saving money by hunkering down at home.

I do know that the two most common resolutions floating around households are removing the clutter and attempting to focus solely on the present.

With a large portion of the population confined to their home for the past year, I think quite a few people had the time to take stock of what’s working at what’s not in terms of appliances, decor, and the general lay of their land.

Swap-and-buys or websites like Craigslist are overflowing with knickknacks and furniture that people decided to rid themselves of; an attempt to clear the clutter.

And then at the same time you have a spike in self-help books devoted to showing readers how to stopping dreading the difficult COVID-centric future, lower their anxieties, and start living in the moment.

I can tell you I am failing in both these resolutions.

Every year my girlfriend and I forgo Christmas gifts to upgrade something significant for the house; this time it was our table and chairs.

So at the cusp of the holidays, we went shopping and found the perfect dining room set to take the place of my 30-year-old oak wood relic. We wanted to be more modern… more fancy… and certainly more open in our apartment.

The problem was, there were no takers to purchase the old table.

So there it sat, clogging up the living room as we desperately attempted to sell the thing to anyone who would listen. We bonked our heads and stubbed our toes for weeks on end.

READ MORE: Ryan’s Regards: To stream or not to stream

It became our 2021 resolution to find a new home for the table at all costs and reclaim or crowded home.

At the same time, I decided to combat my worriment of the uncertain future by reading Echart Tolle’s Power of Now. My resolution was to become calm and better in tune with my surroundings.

While I dove deep into the exercises the book recommended, my girlfriend stifled laughter and shook her head at me all weekend long.

Every time I told her that I was feeling more present and aware, she just rolled her eyes.

I knew something was up and that I was seemingly missing something; something like a new haircut that I failed to compliment.

After becoming panicked, scouring both her and the apartment for whatever change she seemed to be alluding to – each time drawing a blank – I gave up.

It took the entire weekend for me to notice that the giant oak table in the middle of our apartment living room was gone.

She had sold it while I was at work and thought it would be fun to see how long it took me to clue in.

Moral of the story? Good luck with your resolutions folks.

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Email: ryan.uytdewilligen@aldergrovestar.com

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